Palestinian advocacy groups hold commemoration for dead in Gaza

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The Syracuse University chapter of Faculty for Justice in Palestine and the Syracuse chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace hosted a commemoration for Palestinians killed in Gaza in the Schine Student Center Wednesday afternoon.

Attendees took turns reading about 30 names from a list of victims originally published by the Palestinian Ministry of Health. As of Friday, 26,000 people have been killed in Gaza since the war started, according to the Ministry. Throughout the two-hour event, speakers read about 1,100 of the 6,000 names included on the list.

Members of FJPSU, JVP and other organizations in support of Palestinian liberation — such as the Syracuse Collective for Palestinian Liberation, 315Students4Liberation, blackatcuse and the Resilient Indigenous Action Collective — attended the event along with SU students and community members.

Biko Gray, an assistant professor of religion at SU, opened the event by telling the story of a boy and his family who were killed in Gaza. Gray also read “If I Must Die,” a poem by Refaat Alareer, a Palestinian writer, poet and professor who was killed in an airstrike in Gaza this past December.

“We cannot read (all the stories) now and we won’t ever be able to, but we can say their names and cry for the living and the dead,” Gray said. “Just cry.”

Many attendees who spoke, including Gray, teared up as they recited the list. While reading the list, Gray would stop to tell the group to “remember them,” to which the audience responded, “we remember.”

“A number is a number, but it also holds more than that,” Gray said. “Each number represents a story, a life.”

Since the war started on Oct. 7 when Hamas killed 1,200 people in an attack on Israel, the International Court of Justice found that it was “plausible” the country violated the Genocide Convention, according to NPR.

Evan, an adjunct faculty member at SU who chose not to give his last name, said he attended to support the event and the cause of FJPSU — of which he is a member. He also said he hoped hosting the event in Schine would cause a “disruption” to get students’ attention.

Evan also said he believes it is important for people to grieve and acknowledge any “ongoing genocide” as recognition for the victims.

“Each of those names represents a full human life,” he said. “That’s as real as me and as real as you.”

Attendees wore various articles of clothing to show their support, including sweatshirts with images of watermelons — a symbol of resistance and solidarity for Palestine — and keffiyehs, traditional Arab headdresses that originated in historic Palestine. One shirt read, “end the Israeli occupation.” Many attendees who did not read names cried and embraced as they listened to the speakers.

“It’s very moving, hearing the names and recognizing that it’s only a fraction of the people who’ve been killed,” Evan said.

Andy Mager, a coordinator and social movements liaison at Syracuse Cultural Workers, said SU seems “very concerned” about the emotional state of Jewish students and “relatively unconcerned” about what Arab and Muslim students are facing. A Syracuse resident, he said he came to support the people at SU who are looking to better understand their “responsibility” in the conflict in Gaza.

A speaker, who did not give their name, closed the event by thanking attendees for “refusing to forget” and “collectively mourning” as a community.

“We come together to grieve and mourn, because we grieve (as a) community,” the speaker said. “We will not forget these names.”